


The Boy from California

by Westend21



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Coming Out, F/M, Long, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-02-01 02:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12695775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Westend21/pseuds/Westend21
Summary: Billy Hargrove never expected to find himself in the situation he was in.





	1. Worst Day

**Author's Note:**

> This my first chapter so I'd love to know what you think... Also English isn't my first language so if you could go easy on some of the grammar. I know English quite well now, but it may not be perfect. Enjoy!

 

William Edward Hargrove was about to have the worst day of his life.

But he didn’t know that. It was like any other day in Sunny, Palm Springs California. He got up and took a long shower. He spent a half hour doing his hair so it was perfect (Of course Max was banging on the door the whole time trying to make him let her in.). He had grown his hair into a mullet. He was quite proud of his hair and licked to keep it styled.

He wore his jeans and a muscle shirt. As he sat at the breakfast table he listened to his Dad complain about how busy traffic was in California.

“Jesus Christ, none of these people know how to drive! I mean, it’s like California is overrun by the Japs! Didn’t we fight a war to stop that?” His father grumbled. His Stepmother, Susan nodded quickly. Billy had thought from the time that they started dating, that the only real reason that his father liked her was because she never really disagreed with all the crazy things that he said. It was the reason that his Mom had broken up with him.

Max sat at the other end of the table, chewing on a waffle. They had been living together for just over a year and never really gotten along. Billy just saw her as a constant reminder that his father had moved on. His mother, never called anymore. Apparently, she lived in Seattle with a new husband. After the divorce she had just left him with his father.

He finished his toast and quietly got up. He knew better than to disrupt one of his father’s great rants. He made his way towards the sink with his plate and washed it. He wished that he could wish away the next two years of his life and be eighteen already. He’d already decided that he wanted to stay in California but move to San Diego. He’d been there once with his mom and dad when he was much younger. That was one of the few times he could ever remember being truly happy.

Max stealthy placed her dish beside the sink and looked up at him with curious eyes, as if to ask, will you wash my plate? He found himself rolling his eyes and taking her plate. He washed it while she ran out of the kitchen. He thought she was probably out doing tricks on her skateboard, waiting for him to be ready to take her to school. As he finished up, he dried the plate and put it back in the cupboard.

He grabbed his keys and heard his father’s last words on driving before walking out the front door. He saw Max looking at him expectantly, sitting on the hood of his ’79 Camaro. He chucked and said, “Get in the goddamn car, ginger.”

She huffed and slide off. He got in the driver sit and turned it on. The engine almost purred to him. He felt a smile pull on to his face as he looked at the steering wheel. His dad had gotten him the car as a kind of thank you gift for staying with him in the divorce. Not that he really wanted his son but he was a vindictive man and having his son meant he hurt his ex wife.   

“Are you gonna keep fondling the steering wheel or can we go?” Max said, sulking. As usual she had her arms crossed and she seemed to look at anyone but him.   
“Shut your face.” He said with no real malice. His natural defence was just to insult and demean. He had learned it from his father.

He shifted gears and backed out of the driveway. He drove towards the school in silence. As they got to the parking lot of the middle school he parked and turned to his step sister. She looked at him with annoyance present.

“What Billy?” She said, hand on the door ready to leave. He smirked, “Have a good day, and remember if you get some little boyfriend I’ll beat the shit out of him.”

“Screw off, Billy.” She said before getting out of the car and slamming the door. He shouted at her but didn’t even feel the need to mark the event. He drove out of the exit and drove towards the high school which was only a block and a half away. As soon as he pulled into a spot he saw his friend, Eric, waiting for him. He was smoking a cigarette with Kendra. Eric was tall, just over six foot three. He had long blonde hair and always wore a leather jacket to school.

Kendra was a girl that Eric infrequently slept with. The thing about Kendra was that she usually had four or five guys she was sleeping with at one time. She had dyed purple hair that was gelled up. She wore tight shirts and short shorts. She had propositioned herself onto him many times and he had only slept with her once. They were at a party and he had gotten so drunk he didn’t remember the experience at all.

He got out of his car and walked over to them. He wordlessly pulled out a cigarette and Eric pulled out his lighter and light it. He took a deep breath in, filling his lungs before breathing out a steady stream of smoke.

“Damn man, was your Dad that mad about you missing curfew last night?” Eric laughed. Billy glared at his friend. Kendra laughed as well. “My mom hasn’t made me a curfew in years. Poor little Billy.”

He quickly tried to change the subject. “Are you guys going to be class last period? We have to hand in that assignment for art.”

Eric looked at his friend with wide eyes. “Dude are you actually going? I was going to get high with Randy and Kendra. We thought you were coming too.”

“Oh,” He said. “No I’m going to class, Mrs. Martin said I could get extra credit for this one.”

“Fucking Nerd.” Kendra snorted and Eric laughed. They began to talk about how amazing the weed Randy had was. Billy thought about art. He had always secretly been into it. Mrs. Martin had been giving him extra work once she had seen how good he was.

The only problem was that he had to keep it a secret from almost ever single person around him. He kept his sketch book buried under his bed at home. He was fine with skipping boring classes like Science and Math but Art was just so interesting to him.

When he drew, he felt like the entire world was endless. He didn’t have to think about his Parent’s divorce or his lack of plans for the future. He was alone with his thoughts.

He was jolted from his head by the sound of the bell. He quickly gathered up his books and put out his cigarette.

His first two periods were boring as usual. He found that his mind would drift when they started talking about random equations.

When he finally got to lunch he sat with Eric and a group of others. He was definitely popular. He hadn’t really fought to be, but it found him none the less. In his freshman year he had found himself picking on other kids more often than not, but now he really had no interest.

He felt himself being lost in thought often. Lunch was its usual affair. Eric called a group of girls ugly. Most of the guys would then agree and then bring up the name of a girl they thought was hot. Then the cycle would start again.

As soon as the bell would ring Billy would jump out of his seat and run to the gym. He was an avid athlete and played on most of the teams in the school. His favourite was track. He did sprints.

He had ribbons and trophies at home from when he was in middle school. He would look at them at night and smile. It made him feel like he was good at something.

They started the class and did stretching warm ups. He felt the person beside him bump arms with him. He turned to see Sam Baxter standing next to him. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and a muscular figure. Most girls in the school had crushes on him.

 Sam was considered the school hero. He was the Quarterback of the football team and a smart kid. He got Straight A’s and was always hanging with the good kids. His friend group was more wholesome. While they got along with Billy’s friends, they weren’t really in the same circle.

“Hey, sorry about that man.” Sam said bashfully. Billy blushed for some reason as he looked up at the senior, who was a few inches taller then him. He shrugged, “It’s alright.”

“Hey man, did you get that assignment done for art? I just finished mine last night and to be honest, I think it looks like dog shit.” Sam laughed. Billy felt himself smile. Sam was in his art class as an elective because he needed an Arts credit to graduate. While Sam was great at many things, Art was not one of them.

“Yeah, I finished mine on the weekend.” Billy said. Sam laughed and said, “Yeah I bet you did, I’ve seen some of your work. Pretty good. Well, like amazing compared to mine.”

Again Billy felt his ears burning as he stared at the front of the room were the coach was leading stretches.

Finally they got into the actual sports portion of period. They played pick up basketball and Billy was on the skins team. He quickly shed his shirt and shrew it to the side. Sam walked up beside him and winked at him.

He felt himself smile at the action. He turned at grabbed the ball from the coach. He dribbled to the top of the key and looked at his teammates. He pivoted to the left before passing to Sam.

He then cut into the key hard, losing his defender. Sam Saw him and lobbed a pass into him. He quickly did a two step to lay the ball up. As it went threw the net and made that amazing swish he turned and looked at Sam. They bro-hugged and he felt his arm touch Sam’s hot chest. A shock went down Billy’s spine as his arm grazed the older boys six pack.

He gulped and stepped away. Sam stared at him for a second before turning around and picking up a a guy as they were on the defensive.

As the pick up game continued, Billy felt that moment replay over and over again in his mind. What was going on? Why was he feeling this way?

As he walked into the locker room he stripped his clothes and headed for the shower. He had always been a bit weary about being in a room with a bunch of naked guys so he made sure not to look at anyone and just keep to himself in a little corner.

He soon heard laughter and turned to see Sam and his friends whipping each other with towels. He gulped as he saw Sam’s…. package. It was big and Billy suddenly felt very insecure. He quickly finished was the sweat off of him and towelled off. He changed into fresh clothes and walked quickly out of the locker room.

He put his dirty gym clothes in his locker and grabbed his notebook and art assignment. He walked into the art room and was greeted with a smiling Mrs. Martin.

“Hello Billy. I am so excited to see what you were able to do for the assignment.” She said. He found himself scratching his head, eyes titled to the floor. He mumbled, “I don’t know if it’s any good.”

She shook her head and gave him a firm look. “Mr. Hargrove hand me the assignment right now.”

He slowly handed her the rolled up paper. She unfolded it and she gasped. “Billy, It’s amazing. The direction you took with the picture! Oh my, I love it.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Martin.” He smiled slightly. The assignment had been to draw your future and he had sketched the skyline of San Deigo. He had worked on it from his pictures of their family trip. He had actually finished it the night they had gotten the assignment but he would never tell anyone that.

He made his way to his desk and slumped down. As the rest of the class filled in he found that he was smiling to himself. It was this class that was giving him direction.

As Mrs. Martin started her lesson she talked about water colours and how they effected a painting when he felt something hit the back of his head. He turned to see a grinning Sam sitting in the row behind him. He frowned and mouthed what at the boy.

Sam held up a very poorly drawn image of Billy kissing Mrs. Martin’s ass. He only knew that it was Mrs. Martin and him because the names were labelled.

Billy found himself grinning at the boy’s antics and turned back around. He pondered why Sam had been talking to him so much that day. Though he wouldn’t complain. He rather liked talking to the boy.

As Mrs. Martin gave them another assignment Billy found his mind drifting to what he would do for the assignment. He had the house to himself that night, as his family was going to an event in Redlands. He would be able to crack open a cold one and sit at the kitchen table.

As the class ended he was shocked when Mrs. Martin said, “Thank you class dismissed. And can William Hargrove and Samuel Baxter stay for a moment. Goodbye everyone and see you tomorrow.”

He was dumbfounded. He assumed that she had seen him look back when Sam had hit him with an eraser. He felt uneasy as he approached her desk at the front of the room. Sam came to a halt beside him and they shared a look.

Mrs. Martin held up a very poor drawing of a building. She looked at us with no emotion present on her face. “Mr. Baxter what is this?”

“Oh, Uh.” He stumbled, cheeks going bright red. “That’s my assignment.”

“No what is it?” She asked. He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what is this? You see this as an assignment and not as a place. You need to start connecting to your inner artist.”

She proceeded to hold up Billy’s artwork and it was his turn to blush. Mrs. Martin eyed Sam, “This picture is a place. When I look at it I feel like I’m there.”

She turned to Billy. “I want you to help Sam redo the assignment. I feel that you can help him the most of any in the class. You have such a good eye for art Billy.”

“That sounds great!” Sam said, sounding quite excited at the prospect. Billy was about to start to protest but was cut short by Sam swinging a massive arm around his shoulder and bringing him into the hallway. Sam walked him to his locker and when they stopped Sam looked at him expectantly.

“What do you need Sam?” Billy asked, frowning. Sam looked at him as if the answer was obvious. “Well, duh? I’m waiting for you. I want to do the assignment tonight.”

Billy opened his mouth to protest but then shut it. His parents were away and he had the whole house to himself. He couldn’t think of a more perfect time for him and Sam to work together on the project. He quickly nodded and started grabbing the stuff he needed from his locker.

He felt his mind turn quickly to the strange way he was feeling about Sam. He felt an almost pull towards the older boy in a way he had never felt before. He really didn’t understand it at all and it was a little bit frightening.

As they walked down the hall together Sam chattered about football and some scholarship and Billy found himself absently nodding. As they made it to the parking lot Billy turned to Sam. “Do you have a car? If you don’t did you want to ride with me?”

“Yeah sure, I got a ride today anyway.” He said before sliding into the passenger’s seat. He whistled and said, “Oh boy, this is a nice car, you should see mine. It’s a piece of shit.  Maybe some time I could take her for a spin?”

Billy nodded not sure what to say. He revved the engine before taking off from the school. He drove quickly home, feeling excitement bubble in his stomach. He usually didn’t get like this when he hung out with Eric. He couldn’t figure it out. As he turned onto his street he put the thoughts out of his mind and focused on what to do to help Sam with his art.

Pulling into his drive way, he shut the car off and got out. He wondered if Sam was judging his house. He knew that the older boy came from a well-off family. While the house wasn’t huge, it wasn’t run down or in a bad part of town. Sam didn’t seem to pay the house any mind as he walked in. He dropped his bag to the side of the front door before slumping down at the kitchen table. He kicked his shoes off and looked expectantly at Billy.

“Well?” Sam said, one eyebrow raised in a question, “Are you going to help?”

Billy nodded and quickly went to work. He pulled his art page out and grabbed a fresh sketch paper out. He brought out a sketching pencil for each of them and sat down beside Sam. He turned and looked at the boy and took a deep breath.

“Okay, so what did you draw for your first picture and why?” He asked.

“Well I drew UCLA because that’s where I’m going next year.” Sam said. He didn’t seem to really care one way or another about the assignment. Billy nodded and spoke again, “And what does it mean to you?”

Sam frowned at the question and took several moments before saying, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Billy said. “Why is UCLA your future? When you think of it what do you feel? Are you happy? Sad? Does it make you get up in the morning?”

Sam looked at him with wide eyes, “I don’t think so. Do you feel like that when you draw?”

“I feel… different when I draw. I feel like I’m able to look through my life. I feel like an observer.” Billy decided. Sam looked at him for a minute. He finally spoke, “I don’t feel those things when I draw. Usually I just feel bored.”

Billy shook his head, “You have to make the drawing about something. When I drew my sketch, I put all of my emotions about the future into it. It inspired me.”

“Well how do I do that?” Sam asked. Billy thought about it. “Let me try to explain some basic ways to sketch. Then we can talk about emotions.”

He began to show Sam how to hold the sketching pencil, which he had no idea how to do. Then he showed him how to do a rough sketch, then to erase some and go again, and again. Till it’s just right.

He showed him the basics of his first draft of his assignment and Sam had given him a surprised look. He had then made a remark about Billy being one of the best artists he’d ever seen and Billy found himself blushing at the compliment.

He was very careful of who he let see his artwork so to be so open with Sam was a bit scary. None of his family knew and he only trusted Mrs. Martin because she was a teacher.

They finally finished the sketch of UCLA when they decided to take a break. Sam smirked at him. “So, Billy? Is it true that you’re with Kendra Davis?”

Billy scoffed, “No, who told you that?”

“Oh.” Sam smiled, “Just a friend.”

Sam sat up and moved himself closer, till he sat almost knee to knee with him. “I just couldn’t imagine a guy like you being with someone so much lower than yourself.”

“Yeah, I’ve never really liked Kendra that much.” He said shrugging. He was a bit confused at the line of questions but didn’t second guess it too much. All Eric ever did was talk about girls. Sam licked his lips and Billy absentmindedly thought about how red thy were. They stood out against his pale skin.

“Who do you like?” Sam questioned, tilting his head. Billy swallowed, “W-what? Why are you asking?”

Sam pulled back. He now seemed disinterested. “Just curious.”

Billy felt like he had offended his new friend and felt himself jump back into the conversation. “Sorry! Well um- I don’t really like anyone.”

Sam seemed to perk up at this and moved back in to his position. He seemed to be almost looming over Billy. Billy stared into his eyes, they were the colour of the sea, it reminded him of the waves and of San Diego. He thought about how beautiful they were but stopped himself. Sam put the arm on the back of his chair.

“I have a confession to make Billy.” Sam said with a guilty smile. Billy frowned, “What’s wrong Sam?”

“I’ve been planning this for weeks. I even asked Mrs. Martin for your help. I wanted this.” He said. Billy’s mind was racing. What did that even mean? Did he do this to become friends?  Why would he go to all of the trouble just to hang out with Billy? If he had just walked up to Billy and asked him to hang out then he would have agreed. He found himself saying, “What?”

“This.” Sam said again before connecting their lips. Billy felt his mind go blank as he kissed Sam. He didn’t pull away but didn’t engage.

In his whole life he had pushed away any indication that he was gay. He didn’t even accept the possibility of it. His father had told him from a very young age that all gays go to hell and that they were worse than animals. He had been taught that being gay was worse than anything in the world.

But as Billy sat kissing Sam fucking Baxter he found himself enjoying it. He had kissed girls before and had always come away feeling nothing. He assumed that was what it was like. But kissing Sam was incredible. His lips were soft, but he was firm. He felt himself place a hand against Sam’s ample chest.

Sam’s hand gripped his neck and he felt his mouth open slightly and felt Sam’s tongue slip in. He had never felt so much for a kiss. They stood and Sam pushed Billy against the fridge, breaking the kiss. They both stayed silent for a second, only their heavy breathing present in the room. Then Sam attacked his mouth again. This time not as soft. He came back with just as much fervor.

Billy wrapped his arms around Sam and Sam cupped his ass. Sam broke the kiss long enough to say, “I’ve wanted this hot ass since I saw it in the showers, Hargrove.”

Billy launched another kiss on him and they began to make out again. It was passionate and strong. He felt like he was being consumed by the kiss. He pushed his hands under Sam’s shirt and felt the well-developed frame.

Billy knew that he was gay. He had never in his life felt so happy.

What no one could have predicted was for Neil Hargrove walking into the kitchen at that moment.

Sam saw him before Billy and pushed the boy off of him. Billy went flying into the cabinets under the kitchen sink. Sam stuttered before running out the kitchen door. Billy’s father didn’t seem to care about the boy. He looked at his son with such hatred and disgust that Billy felt fear grip him.

His father stared down at the dishevelled image of Billy. Billy looked at him, trying not to shy away in fear.

“You… You are not my son.” He said quietly. Then he undid his belt. As soon as it came off Billy knew that he was in for it. The first strike made him scream. He covered his face with his hands. The second broke skin, he was sure of it. After the third he began to lose his sense of reality.

At some point he heard his stepmother screaming for his father to stop but he knew all too well that once he started there was no way to stop him.

The belt came down again and again until Billy thought that he must have passed out. He felt himself floating, as if he was in a dream. He knew that he wasn’t asleep as he still felt the belt. It was then that he felt the other presences. He could feel his father but it wasn’t his body. It was like his mind. It was indescribable, like touching a person’s soul.

He felt intense hatred rush into him as he felt his consciousness grip his father’s mind.

He wanted him to feel pain. He wanted him to hurt. He felt the blows stop and he opened his eyes. His father was standing still. The belt had dropped on the ground. He was staring off into the distance.

Rage filled anger made him press on. He didn’t understand what was happening but he knew that it would hurt his father and that’s all that he cared a bout at the moment.

Billy could still feel his father’s mind. He felt his own mind flex. He tore his father to shreds. His father dropped to the ground and began to seize. Billy felt blood dripping from his nose and touched it with his finger. He felt that the nose bleed was the least of his concerns. His back and arms were badly bruised and he had welts all over his side. He could feel blood oozing from his side as well. He groaned at the pain.

“Billy?” Max was in the room now. She looked at him with fear present in her eyes. Susan was kneeling near her husband and trying to wake him. Billy couldn’t feel his father any more and grinned. He didn’t know what he did but he was happy that he did it. He felt light headed then.

His mind began to swirl and he found himself falling into darkness.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Posting again just to get it out quickly.

Susan had no idea what to do. Her mother had always said she was too indecisive to ever be a nurse or a doctor and Susan always agreed with her.

But as she stood in her kitchen, husband lying on the ground, blood coming out of his eyes and of course her step son. Who her husband had almost belted him to death, she really wished she was the type to take action quickly. It was a good thing her daughter Max was very different.

“MOM!” She yelled while cupping Billy’s head in her arms. “What do we do?”

Susan looked at the scene one last time before turning to the house phone. She picked it up and dialed. The phone rang only twice before she heard the voice at the other end of the line.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergence?” A female operator said. Susan spoke quickly, “H-hello my husband has been in an accident. Um-.”

“What is your address Ma’am?”  The operator cut her off quickly.

“Well um, three twenty-one, Ferndale street but my step son has also been in an accident.” She said, unsure.  The woman seemed to be jotting down notes. “And Ma’am can you tell me what happened?”

For a moment she was silent. How could she possibly explain the situation? Should she start with the fact that the event was canceled in Redlands, or should she talk about how her husband had seen his son kissing a boy.

Neil often talked about how much he hated gays. Susan always nodded as to say she did too but that wasn’t actually true. She didn’t really hate anyone. While Neil talk about each ethnic group with hatred in his heart she could care less. She really had no opinion on any of them.

The reason she was with Neil was because it was easy. Her first husband had been gone constantly, trying to make it as a rock star. She had just wanted stability, so when she had met Neil she had thought that he was the best thing for her. She assumed that love would come soon but it never really had.

“My uh, husband collapsed and my- my step son was beaten up.” She said slowly. She had no other way to describe it. It was just all happening to fast. The operator simply said, “Alright ma’am two ambulances are on the way.”

She hung to phone up and turned to see her daughter crying over her sibling. Max was looking to her mother for guidance but Susan simply stood there. She felt numb.

“Mom! Help please! He’s- he’s bleeding everywhere.” Max yelled. Tears were streaming down her daughter’s freckled face. Her hair was tangled and blood was all over her new dress. Susan moved slowly. She grabbed the towel she used for drying the dishes.

She kneeled beside Billy and began to apply pressure on his heavily bleeding back. The man, no boy, he wasn’t a man. He looked so small lying in a heap on the ground. The boy was so hurt it had made her want to cry. When she had walked in she had been shocked. She had seen Neil verbally abuse Billy but she had never seen him hit him. She didn’t understand how it had gotten this bad.

Billy’s head seemed to be bleeding as well. His long hair was matted and the blood had seemed to dry. That was when the Paramedics arrived.

Two sets of men in blue uniforms raced in. They began to ask Susan questions she had no answer for. They stood over Neil and the other pair was working with Billy. Neil looked strange, his usually angry demeanor was washed away. He lay there, silent. His eyes were open yet there was no sign that he was awake. She honestly thought he might be dead. The pair looking at Neil were yelling.

“When did he pass out?” One asked. The other quickly followed with, “Did he say how he was feeling before he passed out?”

Susan began to cry as she shook her head. She had no idea what had happened. One moment Neil had been beating the shit out of his son then he stopped. Then Billy had looked at his father with malice and Neil had collapsed. She knew what it would sound crazy if she said it out loud.

“Ma’am we need you to tell us what happened or we won’t be able to help him. Now can you please tell us what happened?” The Paramedic said forcefully. Susan nodded and spoke with trepidation, “I- I’m sorry. It sounds so strange. My husband was hitting Billy and- and it was like Billy stopped him.”

“What do you mean? Stopped him? Did your son physically attack your husband?” The other Paramedic said. He brow was knit together in pure confusion. Susan gulped and shook her head. “No. He-he did something. Something with his mind.”

“I’m sorry what?” The Paramedic asked. Susan grasped her head, “I- I don’t know how else to explain it. It just happened so fast.”

Then Paramedics exchanged a look that Susan interpreted as she was crazy. Susan honestly thought that she might be. The situation had been so strange she honestly thought that she might be going crazy. Susan looked over at Billy who was being put on to a stretcher and felt her heart drop at the amount of blood that was on the ground.

“My Mom isn’t lying! Neil was attacking Billy and Billy stopped him! It happened! He did it with his mind!” Max yelled at the paramedics, who froze in shock as they looked at the young girl. They simply nodded and moved Neil onto the stretcher. Max came to her mother and embraced her. She barried her face in Susan stomach.

“Mom why did Neil hurt Billy like that? Why was he so mean?” Max asked. Susan sometimes forgot that Max was still a child. She smoothed her daughter’s hair and looked down at her. “Neil was being a bully and we don’t like bullies, do we?”

Max shook her head. She looked up at her mom with bloodshot eyes. “Do we have to live with Neil anymore?”  
“No honey, no we don’t.” It was as simple as that. In that moment she had decided that Neil was going to be on his own. She had never laid a hand on Max and she wasn’t going to let that man ever touch her daughter. She felt a marginal amount better at the thought.

“Mommy?” She was shocked to hear Max call her that. It had been years since she had heard that moniker. Max had always been obsessed with not being a baby. And in the last year that had been especially important as she had a big brother now.

“Yes, sweetheart?” She asked. Max looked up at her again. Her eyes filled with so much sadness. Max stumbled over her words, “D-does Billy have to stay with him?”

Susan felt a chilling feeling in her throat. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. The idea that Billy would stay with his father was not good. Now that Neil had seen the boy kiss another boy, he would be forever tainted in his father’s eyes. He would be considered disgusting and inhuman. While Billy had a tough exterior, she knew that the boy was hurting on the inside.

“No, Max. Billy isn’t going to live with Neil either. I’ll make sure of that. I promise.” She vowed. She knew that If anything she would have to get the boy away from Neil. It wouldn’t be easy. She looked as they wheeled Billy out of the house and towards the ambulance.

 

 

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

HE felt them lift him. His eyes opened and he saw the flashing lights of the ambulance. They lifted him into the back and he caught a glimpse of Susan and Max watching him. His memories were hazy. He felt like someone had dropped an anvil on his head.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

The Paramedics rushed around him. They continued to try and get him to speak. One man was slapping his cheek and yelling. Billy had no interest in responding. He felt like sleeping. His eyes were rolling back when the man hit him again.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

“Come on buddy! You can’t sleep right now! Gotta wake up? Can you talk?” He said. He was almost over top of Billy. He looked at the other Paramedic and frowned. “The kid has lost a lot of blood! He’s gonna need a transfusion fast!”

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

Billy was so sick of all of the yelling. All he wanted was to just go to sleep. His back and head hurt so much and the call to just fall into unconsciousness was so tempting. The man kept hitting him but slowly the slaps weren’t as jarring.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

He slowly felt himself slip into the oblivion. He heard the paramedic yelling and the sound of the beeping went silent.

 

 

Susan drove as fast as she could. She was not a reckless driver by nature so when she drove through stop lights and put her foot down on the gas pedal when she was supposed to yield, she naturally winced. Max kept pushing her to go faster.

“Come on! We have to get there now!” Max urged. She sat in the front perched on the edge of the seat.  She had pulled her red hair back into a ponytail and had wiped her eyes. She had pulled on a sweater and put on jeans. The dress she had bought for the event was ruined. Not that she cared. It was her mother who had wanted her to get the dress.

Susan pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and quickly parked. She grabbed her bag and quickly sprinted towards the entrance. She wasn’t shocked to see Max running beside her. She made it to the reception desk and put both hand on the table, skipping over multiple people in line.

“My stepson William Edward Hargrove was in an accident and I need to see him. Where is he?” Susan shocked even herself with her forceful tone. Max also seemed impressed. She looked at her mother with eyes filled with admiration. The receptionist didn’t seem as impressed.

“Ma’am you cannot barge in here and order me around. I am going to have to ask you to go to the back of the line and-,” She began to explain but Susan cut her off.

 “You are going to tell me where he is because that boy is fighting for his life. And if he dies and we don’t know what’s going on because you have some stupid- goddamn procedure to follow then so help me god!  I will spend the rest of my life litigating this hospital!” She ended her rant with her voice about three octaves higher than when she started.

The woman stared at her with hard eyes for a second before turning to the large, boxy computer. She typed the name in and turned back to Susan. “He’s still in surgery but they should be moving him to a private room.”

She nodded and grabbed Max’s hand. She ran down the hall looking at the signs. She moved with speed as she navigated the old hospital. Finally, they found the surgery that he was in. The Nurse there told them that the doctors would be out in a while to tell them what had happened and how they were going to deal with it.

Susan and Max sat in the uncomfortable chairs. Unease filled the room. Susan had never enjoyed hospitals, they made her anxious and this situation made things so much worse. She kept her face up for Max. Her daughter seemed very upset. She was shocked. Susan had thought that Max had disliked Billy. Max pulled on her mother’s sleeve.

“Mom?” She asked. She seemed hesitant. She wasn’t looking at Susan which Susan knew meant she was embarrassed by something. Susan patted her daughter’s arm.

“Yes baby?” She said. Max turned and looked at her mother. “Do you think that if I had been nicer to Billy he wouldn’t have gotten hurt?”

Susan wanted to gasp. Max had somehow figured out a way to blame herself in all of this and it made sense. Max didn’t really understand why Neil had been hitting Billy, so she had imagined it was her fault. Susan grabbed her daughter and brought her into another hug.

“No, Max. You are not to blame for any of this. The only real person to blame is Neil. He shouldn’t have done that to Billy and he is the one responsible for it.” 

Max felt herself nodding but she didn’t look totally convinced. Susan continued to pet her daughter’s hair for a little while. She felt her stomach grumble and then remembered that they hadn’t had any dinner.

She and Max then went to the food court and got something to eat. She ate the tuna fish sandwich that was dry and stale and drank the coffee that was cold and also stale to stay alert. They had then gotten back to the waiting room and they had sat back in their chairs.

Nobody else was in the waiting area with them and the Nurse seemed to be on break. She settled into a position that was the least uncomfortable and closed her eyes.

Sleep did not take her but she at least felt like she was getting rested. She finally felt the tendrils of dreamland coming when she was awoken by a large hand.

“Mrs. Hargrove?” A tall doctor in a white lab coat shook her gently awake. She blinked and sat up. She could see Max sprawled across two chairs across from her. She looked up at the kind looking doctor and nodded.

“Hello there. I’m here to give you an update on your stepson and your husband.” The man said kindly. He smiled at her and sat beside her. She straightened up and patted her hair down. She wouldn’t even want to think about what she looked like in a mirror.

“Yes, Doctor is Billy alright?” She asked. She knew that there was desperation in her voice. It was impossible to hide it.

“Well yes, I think William will be okay. He lost a lot of blood and sustained a large amount of lacerations. We were able to stop the bleeding. We also believe that he had a pretty nasty concussion. Honestly it was good that you got him in so fast otherwise this could have gone so much worse.” He said and Susan put her head in her hands. She let out a breath she didn’t know that she had holding in.

“Thank you, doctor! Oh god than you!” She found tears streaming down her face. She wouldn’t have been able to forgive herself if Billy had died because of that bastard. She saw Max pop up and run over.

“What happened? Is Billy okay? Is he dead?” The questions came like rapid fire. Max was in front of the doctor staring at him intently. The doctor cleared his throat and smiled at the younger girl. She looked at him with her signature look of suspicion.

“It’s alright. Your brother, Billy? He’s going to be fine. He’s going to need a lot of rest. And that means giving him time to heal alright? We have him sleeping in the next room.” The Doctor said with a smile. Max deflated. She had been so stressed for the last coupe of hours she hadn’t noticed the tension.

The doctor started going into the technical aspects of what was wrong with Billy but Max blanked out. She was so glad that Billy was alright she couldn’t believe it. She and Billy had fought often but he had always said that they were family. He made sure to always tell her that it was important for family to stick together.

A week after she started school a boy had been picking on her. Greg Smelk had been pushing her around and calling her a ginger freak. She had gotten in Billy’s car once with a black eye and Billy had forced her to tell him who had done it. Then he had made her show him where Greg was. He had punched the younger boy in the gut.

When Greg was on the ground Billy had told him that if he ever came near Max again that he would rip his guts out and force Greg to eat them. Then they had gotten in the car and driven home. She had wanted to hug him. To thank him. But Billy always seemed so grumpy. She felt like a bad sister.

When She had seen her step dad beating Billy with a belt, she had freaked out. Billy was so big and strong and Neil beat him anyway. She really didn’t understand what had happened. She had been getting things out of the back of the car for her mom when she heard yelling coming from in the house.

As she was rushing to get in she saw one of the popular kids from Billy’s school run out. He connected eyes with Max but he didn’t say anything. That was when she had entered the kitchen and seen Billy. He was so broken and bloody. She didn’t really understand what Billy had done to Neil but she knew that the man deserved it. When her mom had said to the paramedics that Billy had done it with his mind, it had made sense.

She wasn’t a nerd but she liked comics a lot. She read the X-men all the time and she thought that maybe Billy was a mutant.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the Doctors question.

“And I’d like to know what exactly happened with your husband. The paramedic who brought him in said something strange and I’d like to know what exactly you believe happened.” The doctor said. Susan was quiet for a minute and she looked pensive.

Max found herself confused. Why wasn’t her mother telling the man what had happened? She gave up her silence and spoke.

“Billy did something. With his mind.” She said. The doctor turned and looked at her with disbelief. Susan looked sharply at her daughter but she couldn’t really say any different. When she had been in the room with Neil and Billy it had felt like something was attacking Neil.  The Doctor turned to Susan.

“Are- Do you believe your daughter is correct?” He said slowly. Susan rubbed her forehead hard. She didn’t want this to sound crazy.

“Doctor I’m not really sure what happened but I know that something strange occurred. Neil’s eyes were bleeding. And- and Billy. It felt like he did something.” She said. The doctor nodded though didn’t seem convinced.

“Well, the reason I asked was because his condition is odd. He has had no previous issues with strokes or family history. He didn’t have a seizure or a stroke. He didn’t even have a hit on the head. But for some reason we don’t detect any brain activity what so ever.” He explained. The doctor himself seemed puzzled by this.

They sat in silence for a moment before the doctor stood and promised that they would be able to see Billy soon. He turned and seemed as if he was about to leave. He turned around again and spoke.

“I’m going to make a couple of calls about your husband’s condition.” He said finally and walked away quickly. Max jumped into her mother’s arms and they shared a moment of relief. She stopped and moved to sit beside her mother. Susan looked at her watch and realized that hours had past and it was well into the night.

Susan and Max were subjected to another hour of boredom. Susan organized her purse while Max stared at the wall. When they had finally called them to go see Billy Max leapt to her feet and they walked quickly behind a nurse who lead the way.

They arrived at a small room with the view of the parking lot.

Billy lay in a bed before them. His neck was in a cast and his arms were covered by bandages. He had a large piece of gauze on his head covering the wound. The bed was inclined so that he was sitting upright but his head was back against the bed.

His eyes were closed. Susan turned to ask if he was supposed to be awake but Billy opened them slowly. He looked at his stepmother and sister. Susan, a woman he had always known to keep herself clean and put together, her hair was all over the place and her clothes seemed crumpled. She seemed relieved.

Max was standing beside her looking at the ground. She was holding her wrist tight and looking anywhere but the bed. Billy wasn’t quite sure how to start the conversation so he tried his usual attitude.

“Hey guys.” He said with a small smile, “Fancy meeting you here.”

Max’s head shot up and he saw that her eyes were bloodshot and tears were coming down her face. She ran over to the side of the bed and basically jumped on him. She hugged him tightly and he felt her sobbing into his chest.

Billy wrapped his arms around her in shock. He and Max had never been close. He had assumed that she had only come because she had to. He thought that they were only there because of insurance bullshit. He patted his little sister on the head.

“Max. Max! I’m okay! Really!” He said, a little baffled by the situation. Max looked up at him. “I-I-I thought you died! I thought he k-k-killed you!”

She began to sob again. He felt his heart. She loved him. After all the stupid shit that he did Max still loved him. He hugged her tighter and looked up to see Susan. She was crying as well. He wasn’t sure how she felt about any of this.

That was when Susan ran to the other side of the bed and hugged him. He was overwhelmed by this. His step mother had never made any indication that she was fond of him in any way. Not that he had ever tried to make a relationship with her.

“Oh Billy, Oh I’m so sorry! Neil- I mean your father- oh I never thought that he would hurt you! This is all my fault!” Susan cried and hugged him. Billy again was dumbfounded. He waited in silence for the barrage of emotions to stop.

The nurse stepped in, “While I’m sure Mr. Hargrove is happy to see y’all I must insist that you let him be and rest. You can stay in the room but don’t excite him too much.”

Susan nodded and Max stubbornly crawled up onto the bed with Billy still holding on to his side. Billy didn’t make any indication that he wanted her to stop this so the nurse nodded and then left the room. Max and Billy stayed there while Susan talked to the nurse outside.

“Do you hate me Billy?” Max asked quietly. Billy turned and looked at her with a frown. “No. Did you think that I did?”

Max seemed to ponder this. “I never hated you. But you always seem like you don’t want to talk to me. I don’t want you to get angry with me. I love you thought, because family loves each other. And protects.”

“Oh are you going to protect me Max?” He asked smiling. She looked at him and nodded, all serious, “Yes. You protected me from Greg so I’m going to protect you.”

“I love you too Max,” He nodded and smiled at her.

 She rested her head against his chest. Susan walked back into the room and looked at the sight that greeted her. Max was comfortably snuggled against Billy. Billy had wrapped his arm around her. She smiled at the pair.

Billy looked up at her. “What did the doctors say? They going to have to chop me up?”

She rolled her eyes at his antics, “No, they say that your going to make a full recover with a lot of bed rest and no television.”

“Well that’s not too bad is it?” He asked. She nodded and brought the chair from the corner of the room up next to the bed. She sat and took hold of his hand.

“I wanted to tell you that I’m going to make sure that you never have to live with you father again.” She said. He stared at her. Was she kicking him out? He was confused. He thought that they were good now.

“What- What d’you mean?” He asked.   
“Well your father is brain dead for starters so I don’t think we have to worry about that but what I’m saying is that you can go live with your mom if you want.”  She said with a smile on her face. He looked at her with confusion. Why would he ever want to go and live with his mother? He disliked her greatly. Even enough to think his father was marginally better.

“I- what if I don’t want to live with her?” He asked. She looked taken aback by this. “What do you mean you don’t want to live with your mom?”

“I don’t. It just- It won’t work.” He said. She nodded. “Well you can always live with me and Max.”

It was just a throw away for Susan but Billy couldn’t believe that they would let him stay with them. He had always expected that he was just baggage that Susan would be happy to live without. But to hear that?

“Do you- I mean are you sure?” He said. She looked at him for a second. Then a small smile appeared on her face. She nodded.

“I’m going to go make a few calls okay. Are you alright in here with just the two of you?” She asked. He smirked. “If anyone bad comes in I’m sure that Max can take care of them.”

She smiled again and walked into the hallway. She was a bit surprised that he would rather live with them than his own mother. She assumed that the terrible stories that Neil told about his first wife were mostly fabricated but she could see that they might be true.

She made her way down to the lobby and found the pay phones. She took out her pocket book and searched through the phone numbers till she came across it.

Ellen Hargrove.

Neil’s ex wife. She had copied out all of Neil’s contacts just in case she needed them. She had always liked to be prepared. She dialed the number and found herself waiting. She sighed leaned against the booth.

After a long wait a man picked up the phone, “Hello.”

“Hi there,” She said. “I just wanted to speak with Ellen about-,”

She was interrupted by the man yelling Ellen’s name and from what she could hear, dropping the phone on the table. She waited for a few minutes before a voice came on the other end.

“This is Ellen. Who the hell is calling this line?” She asked harshly. Susan gulped as she began, “Well, I ah- This is Susan and your son Billy was- he had an accident and-,”

Again, she was interrupted. “Oh Billy-boy. What the dumb fuck do this time?”

“Well it wasn’t his fault. He was actually beaten up.” She said. Susan couldn’t believe that the woman had no maternal instinct at all. If someone called her and told her Max was hurt she would rush to go be with her. The woman barely even acknowledged the existence of her child.

“Listen honey, call my husband. I don’t have time for this shit. As far as I’m concerned the kid ain’t my son and I don’t want to have to deal with any of his bullshit.” Ellen spat before the line went dead. Susan felt herself deflate. She wanted to know how anyone could be so terrible to their child. Billy didn’t deserve any of this.

She hung up the phone and slowly walked back towards Billy’s room. As she approached his door she saw the Doctor from earlier talking to a man in a lab coat. He had grey hair and a stout figure. He was speaking in hushed tones with the doctor.

He turned and saw her. He smiled and extended his hand.

“Hello, Mrs. Hargrove. My name is Doctor Samuel Owens. I work for the United States Department of Energy. I know you’re probably tired of hearing this but could you tell me the story of what happened to your husband.”


	3. The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy meets with the Doctor.

Billy was released from the hospital a week after being admitted. His father, Neil now had a permanent room. From what Susan had told him, His father was in a medically induced coma and didn’t have any brain activity. The Doctor’s had just chalked it up to an unlikely aneurism but they had been very suspicious. He had been very happy to get out of the hospital as the food and the limited movement was getting to him. He really would get annoyed when the nurses thought he needed help to the bathroom. Even if he did need help he wouldn’t want some old lady holding his hand.

Though he was happy to be released he was concerned about the man that wanted to interview him from the government. Susan had been less upset with the idea of it. She seemed to think that Doctor Owens was a nice man but Billy found himself unsettled. He imagined being pocked and prodded in some white lab. Stuck in a place like the Hospital. Max agreed with him. She had a theory that he was a mutant and that the government was going to try and make him do spy missions in Russia.

He for the life of him couldn’t recreate the effect. He had tried his best but it just didn’t work. He was beginning to think that it was all just a fever dream. That his father had a lucky aneurism and it was all just a coincidence. He actually was hoping it was. The idea that he had some kind of super power was a little too much for him at the moment. He didn’t want to think about the possibly of it.

Susan had started to mother him all the time. Before she had left his room a mess and only cleaned the rest of the house. Now she went on a spree of cleaning and worked her way through his entire room. She found his sketch book too. Which led to a long discussion about how he shouldn’t hide his talents and that his art was beautiful. He had been bashful the entire conversation and Susan had eventually left. Max had almost immediately come in and asked for him to draw her a picture of some character from one of her big arcade games. He had of course obliged. It was sort of becoming their thing that they did together.

Max. He hadn’t thought that they would ever get along. Now she was his constant companion. She was there from the moment she got home from school. On weekends they had movie marathons and had popcorn for breakfast lunch and dinner. Susan had to get a job so that she could afford the medical bills. Billy had felt bad about that but he was happy that at least he could entertain Max. She talked to him a lot about school and how a lot of the girls didn’t like her. He had told her that as long as she was being herself she would always be happiest.

When Susan was home she talked to Billy a lot about what had happened. They spoke about how tough it was going to get for them. They also spoke about Billy’s fears about his supposed powers. She had made sure to tell him that either way, that she was there for him. Susan also talked to Billy about his sketching. She wanted to know what inspired him to sketch and how he had learned. After he talked about the way that it made him feel she had gone out and bought him a brand new sketch book and a set of graphite pencils. He had told her that it was really too much. She had told him that he was a great artist and that artists like him needed the best. It had touched his heart even more, knowing that money was tight as it is.

That was how he found himself about a month after the incident. Sitting on the couch, with his sketch book in his hand. He was drawing Max. He found her an interesting person to sketch. She had so many moods that he always could find another that he thought would look good in a picture. As he was sketching she looked over at him and groaned.

“Oh my god! Billy stop it! I said you could draw me once! Not three million times!” She shouted before kicking him. He laughed and stuck his tongue out.

“See,” He said, still sketching, “I remember you saying I could draw you a few times. And if I’m counting this is only the seventh time.”

She rolled her eyes and threw one of the pillows at his head. He dodged it and continued his portrait. She focused back on the television. They were watching Nine to Five on VHS. That was what he spent most of his money on during his healing period. He’d send Max down to the video store with cash to get a tape and then they would watch it together. Max wanted to watch more scary ones while he was more interested in comedies. Though he did enjoy getting totally freaked out.

Last week they had watched the shinning and he had almost jumped out of his skin. Max, of course had spent the whole night making fun of him and calling him a chicken. He had just shrugged and played it off. If he was being honest he was a bit of a baby when it came to horror movies. He would always have a moment when something came out to fast, or a knife would appear out of nowhere and he would lose it.

He was surprized when they heard a knock at the door. He looked at Max. Susan had said she was coming home at four and bringing Doctor Owens. It was only half past two. He stood and walked over to the door. He had healed enough that they had taken off his neck brace and bandages. He had some scaring on his arms but his back was terrible. The skin was all flayed. He had begun to keep his shirt on whenever possible as to not draw attention.

He opened the door and was stunned to see Sam Baxter in front of him. He was wearing shorts and a tee shirt as summer was almost on them. He had a small smile on his face and was holding his bag in his hand. For a moment he wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“Hey Sam,” He decided. Sam had the decency to appear bashful. He blushed and looked away. Billy wasn’t about to cast his eyes to the side so he kept up his emotionless gaze.

“Hey man,” Sam said. “I wanted to come talk to you sooner but- I don’t know I didn’t want to upset you. Your dad seemed really mad.”

“He was.” Billy said shortly, he crossed his arms and continued to stare. Sam scratched his head. “Well are you in trouble? Like are you not aloud to go to school? Like what did your dad do?”

“My dad- well he had an aneurism.” Billy explained. Sam nodded, “Yeah he seemed really upset. I didn’t mean to run out of there I just- well you know.”

“No I mean he really had a brain aneurism. He’s in the hospital.” Billy said to which Sam’s eyes widened. He looked as if he had swallowed a lemon.

“I-I’m so sorry I had no idea! They didn’t tell me at school and-,” He began but Billy interrupted him, “I’m not sorry.”

“Oh.” Sam responded. The silence was awkward. It was really all Billy. If it had been a week after or maybe even two weeks then he might have been a little more forgiving. A month was a long time and it had taught Billy that he really shouldn’t get involved with someone without knowing them first.

“Yeah, well even Eric didn’t know where you were. He said you probably just ran off or something. He said you had been planning to for a long time.” Sam finally said.

Billy tried not to grimace at the news. He had been expecting his friend to come see him but as time went on it was more and more likely that he wasn’t coming. He wanted to talk to Eric about what had happened. But of course, Eric had rifted into the wind like so many people that he used to know.

“What do you want Sam?” He sighed. Sam looked saddened by Billy’s frustration. He smiled again although this one was a lot lighter.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you. If you need someone I can be that person. I feel like we have a connection.  I want to be there for you.” He said. He had so much hope in his eyes. Billy might have fallen for this a little while ago but now he had no feelings for Sam.

Sam was good looking and nice, yes. But Sam wasn’t going to be there for him. He didn’t have the emotional capacity that would be needed to deal with the issues going on in Billy’s life. He had never experienced any of the stuff Billy had gone through. Simply he wasn’t mature enough.

Billy started closing the door when Sam put his hand on it. “No wait!”

Billy sighed as he opened it up again. “What Sam? I don’t want to talk now.”

“I have something that belongs to you.” He said. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He hand it to Billy. Billy looked at it and realized it was his sketch of the San Diego skyline. He felt a rush looking at it. He smiled up at Sam who was grinning.

“Thanks Sam.” He said. Sam tipped an imaginary hat and began walking backward. He called out, “See ya ‘round Billy!”

Billy sighed as he closed the door. He didn’t expect to see him for a while. At least he hoped. He looked at the paper that Sam had given him and smiled. He turned it over and saw a note.

_You probably don’t want to talk to me so I thought I’d let you know how to write me when I go to University next year. Just send a letter to the office and it will send it to my dorm. Please forgive me._

_Sam_

“Was that your boyfriend?” Billy spun around to see Max in the foyer. She watched him with calculated eyes. He wasn’t surprised to see her. She had started spying on him the moment he got home. Any time he did something that she deemed dangerous she would tell Susan and Susan would shame him into submission.

He snorted, “No he is not.”

“Do you want him to be?” She asked. He rolled his eyes. “No I really don’t.”

‘But your gay right?” She asked, folding her arms. Billy was beginning to think that Max would make a great cop only because she was so relentless. If she didn’t give him an answer then it meant that he would be subjected to endless follow ups.

“Yes. I am gay.” He said. He had already told Susan and she had told him she knew. After that he really didn’t care who knew. As long as his family loved him he’d find friends that would be like minded.

Max seemed to think about that for awhile. She gave him another look before she said, “Cool.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her back into the living room. They fell on the couch and continued to watch nine to five. As the movie was ending Susan opened the door and yelled that she was home. Billy sighed and shut the tv off.

He walked into the kitchen were she was unloading her stuff from work.

“I thought that your weird guy was going to be her with you. Where is he?” Billy asked. She sighed and put her thermos in the sink. “He’s coming soon.

Billy shrugged and waited at the kitchen table. The door bell rang a half hour later and Max was the one to open it. She gazed up at the man in suspension. He smiled down at her and said, “You must be Max. My name is Doctor Owens.”

She said nothing, turning and walking away from the opened door. Owens chuckled and stepped into the house. He shed his coat and closed the door. He walked into the kitchen and was greeted with the sight of Susan washing dishes and Billy sitting at the table.

“So this is the Billy that I’ve been hearing so much about.” He said with a good natured smile.

“So this is the Doctor I’ve been hearing so much about.” Billy said without a smile. Susan sighed and said. ‘It’s good to see you again Doctor Owens. Billy is just a little on edge about this whole thing.”  


“Well I understand that. Let me start of by saying Billy, I’m not some bad big government person. I’m a scientist first and foremost. I care about discovery. From what I’ve heard something happened here that I would like to hear about. I also want to let you know that you cannot be charged for anything said in this meeting as this is not a criminal investigation.” He explained. He pulled a chair out and sat down across from Billy.  He examined the boy for a moment before asking, “Could you tell me what happened that day?”

Billy waited for a moment. He then looked at Susan, who nodded and then spoke.

“My dad. He was- He was really angry. I mean he always got angry.  But this time it was different.” He said. Doctor Owens nodded, then asked, “Can you tell me what happened that made him so angry?”

That made Billy freeze. He didn’t want to talk about being caught with Sam. It was strange and embarrassing. While he had come to terms with the fact that he was gay it didn’t mean he was comfortable talking about private things with a man he’d only just met and was much older.

Doctor Owens seemed to understand that he hit a soft spot so he said, “Billy I’m not here to judge but I’d like to know what happened.”

“Alright,” Billy said. “I was- I was with a guy and we were- well lets just say we were fooling around. My dad doesn’t like that sort of thing at all.”

“Okay,” Owens replied. He was jotting down notes. “And what happened next?”

“He started to hit me. He hit me with his belt. He wouldn’t stop.” Billy gazed at the spot under the kitchen sink where he had been. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Susan standing there. She smiled at him and squeezed.  He took a breath.

“That was when I thought I passed out.” He said. Owens looked up in confusion. “What do you mean you thought?”

“Well I wasn’t fully there but I could feel the people around me. Like, I don’t know like if you were in a pool I was the water. And I felt my dad.” Billy gulped. The memories were still very fresh.

“My dad. His mind I guess, I knew it was him. It just felt- I don’t know? Familiar in a way. And I- I struck.” He said. He stopped for a second to collect himself.

“What do you mean you struck? You attacked him?” Owens asked as he was jotting notes furiously. Billy nodded.

“It was like- I don’t know how to describe it. Like I had his mind in my hands. I just squeezed.” He said. He felt his heart start to beat faster. “Then I pulled back for a moment. I knew what I had done. I knew that I could kill him. So I tried. I ripped him apart.”

Billy stopped. He realized what he had done and felt shame. He never liked his dad but he didn’t think it was right to hurt him liken that.

“Thank you for telling me this Billy.” He said. He continued to write things down and Billy sat there quietly. He was still a little confused about the purpose of the meeting but tried not to show how he was feeling. Owens finished writing and put his pen down. He cracked his knuckles.

“Now Billy I want to tell you that there are others like you out there.” He started. Billy looked at him in shock. He had assumed he was insane. The fact that the doctor believed him was a shock. Owens continued, “I work with the Department of Energy in tandem with the CIA. I have been tasked with training you to become an agent for the United States Government.”

“I’m sorry? You want Billy to be an agent? He’s sixteen. He isn’t going to be an agent.” Susan scoffed. She had assumed that the doctor would help Billy not turn him into a spy.

“The issue is Mrs. Hargrove, that the government doesn’t want Billy just roaming around the public. We have a specific program for people like him and if he isn’t a part of it then- well let’s just say his other option isn’t as good.” Owens explained.

“Are you threatening us? I don’t care who you are but you aren’t going to threaten my son!” Susan said. Owens shook his head. “No I’m not threatening your son. I want him to choose the right option. If he comes and works with me he’ll be able to continue to live at home.”

“And what about school? Is he just going to drop out?” She asked throwing her hands up. Owens sighed, “We have a tutor that will get him his diploma. Also If he works with us he’ll be getting benefits and a salary.”

“Are you trying to bribe us? I won’t-,” She began but Billy cut her off. “I’ll do it.”

Owens smiled at the young man and extended his hand. “Welcome to project MKUltra.”


	4. Summer to Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy begins to master his ability, then they find out some shocking news.

 Billy assumed that working for the United States Government on a top secret program, would be a lot more exciting. After meeting Dr. Owens, He thought that he would be going on missions to the Soviet Union and fighting bad guys. But, most of the time he actually just sat in an office and did tests with Dr. Owens.  Which to him, was confusing, as in all movies that he watched there was always explosions.

He had confronted Owens about it about a week and a half into the job. He had approached him and said. “Why am I doing the same boring shit every day Doc? I want to do something exciting… I don’t know?”

Owens had just laughed. “Kid, when you get to my age you’ll say please no more excitement I just want to have a nice cushy desk job.”

He had argued that that day would never come and that had gotten him in another argument. Owens was very hard to beat in a debate just because he never really folded.

The Lab.

 Not that he hated it, in fact it was much better than going to school in his opinion. His high school career hadn’t been about education per say and because of that school had always been a trial for him.

 Though he still had to do schoolwork which he thought was dumb. The tutor that they hired for him was exceedingly boring and was only focussed on getting his marks up to snuff. He would force hours of work on him and any little thing that Billy got wrong the tutor would ridicule him. It was actually a very good technique to use on Billy, as he was very competitive.

 Most days would start with Billy arriving with Dr. Owens. Owens enjoyed using the drive to work as a time to make fun of Billy. He would play jazz in the car just because Billy hated it. Then he would have to do a series of tests trying to expand his abilities at the lab.

 He had meditation lessons, then he had yoga, again to calm him down and to keep him focused. Then, he had the joy of doing memory work with another Doctor Who was trying to expand his memory.  Overall it was a lot more boring than he expected. 

 He didn't hate it, in fact some stuff was a lot more fun than school. Like being able to use his psychic abilities to put people to sleep. 

His powers were constantly growing according to the doctors. They said that his ability seemed to lay within manipulating others minds, they had seen another person with similar abilities but she mostly only had the ability to make the mind see certain things.

 Another thing that bugged him, was the fact that they made him shave his head. He had gotten into a huge fight with Dr. Owens about it. Owens said that it was important for the experiments. But if Billy was being honest with himself, he assumed it was just Owens. The doctor didn't really seem to enjoy his long hair and constantly made fun of it and his music choices. 

 His powers seemed to be more focussed on infiltrating the mind. With his father it had been violent and angry but as he learned more about his ability, he found that he was at his best when he was calm  and collected. 

 One of the first times that he was able to use his power was because of the way Dr. Owens explained it to him. For the first three weeks that he worked with the staff at the Palm Springs Institute, he didn't seem to have any powers and worried that it was just a fluke. 

 Most of the doctors had begun to get annoyed with him and they did not seem to think that he actually had any power. 

Billy was ready to go home, he didn't think that he really had anything to give. Dr. Owens, the night before Billy was about to tell him that he wanted to leave, gave him a very interesting lecture. 

 “Billy.” He said. “I want you to think about the first time your powers were activated. What happened?”

“Well,” Billy said, “I was, angry? Yeah, I was really mad it was just a lot all at once and my dad found out what it happened. It just – it just was difficult. I was so angry I couldn’t even focus”

 Dr. Owens looked to Billy for a long time. He seemed to be examining him. He was frowning but there was a curiosity in his eyes. 

“I think the problem that we have is that we've been trying to re-create it. The situation I mean, and that kind of situation is one in a million I think we shouldn't be trying to re-create what happened. I think we should be trying to find it in a different way.” He said. 

 “What do you mean doctor?” Billy said. “How can we find it in a different way?” 

“What I mean is unless you had a great rage I don't think we could re-create it. I think you need to calm yourself to a point where you're able to focus on your mind, and once you've done that I want you to reach out and try and find mine. Your father beat you till you were almost unconscious and I think it put your mind in a state of calm.” Dr. Owens said. 

 Billy nodded, unsure. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he tried to push everything out, all of the insecurities and all of the anger that he still had and just focussed on his mind. He pushed all of the noise to the back of his head. It wasn’t easy, he didn’t come by it natural. He was an emotional person.

 Finally, once it felt like he was calm, he reached out, almost like a phantom arm, like he was there but he wasn't. It was as if he was moving away from his own body.  He felt something.

 His eyes shot open in alarm and he looked at the doctor in surprise. Dr. Owens was looking at him with a large grin. 

 “Did you feel that doctor?” Billy said. Dr. Owens simply nodded at him his grain growing wider. 

 After that the meditation lesson started multiple times in a day, he was forced to clear his mind and reach out to people. At first it was slow but as time moved he was able to find minds more quickly. 

 Now he was able to find minds without meditating for multiple minutes he just had to focus and he could sense it was in the room. 

 The first time he shut someone down, meaning that he put them to sleep was when he looked at their minds as if they were almost switch, it was as if though he could manipulate them in anyway he chose. 

 After a few moments of manipulating someone's mind, he would feel the trickle of blood coming from his nostril. The doctor said that that was completely normal and it was just his body's way of coping with him using his abilities. 

His only weakness was that he couldn’t sustain his power long. He only had a few minutes of power. If he pushed himself then he would either black out or snap back into reality. Hard. The second hurt a lot more. To the point that he would get motion sickness from it. The first time it had happened he had projectile vomited. All over a doctor and his lab notes. It was safe to say that it didn’t endear him to the staff.

 The summer had not been as fun as it usually was for him, stuck in the lab all day with a bunch of old men trying to do experiments wasn't exactly the way he wanted to spend his time but it wasn't as if though he had the friends to even spend time with, Eric hasn't spoken to him except in passing when he had seen him near his house and all of the other friends that they shared seem to be just as happy to ignore him. He got the chance to really see who his friends were.

 It seemed that Max was his only real friend, not that he actually minded she was pretty fun to hang out with, if you could get past the fact that she was only a kid. They would watch movies with Susan.  But then later they would sneak out and go egg people’s houses. Max, just like him, was a troublemaker and he could really appreciate that. 

 They egged that asshole Greg, who had been causing Max trouble. They egged a girl named Karen who had been a bitch to Billy. And of course, they Mrs. Weinz.  A woman on their street who is well known for yelling at all of the kids. She had called Max a freak and Billy couldn’t let that slide.

 They had to do this at night because Billy had to work during the day.

That was another thing that Billy hated, his hours. As he had never worked a job before he did not know that he would be forced to spend the entire summer in a lab alone. Well not alone but at the same time he felt alone. He got weekends and sometimes Friday’s off.

 Other than Dr. Owens, it didn't seem like any of the staff wanted to talk to him or engage with him. It seemed as if though that they were only there for the scientific means, and saw him only as and experiment. 

When summer became fall, he started to feel a little bit better. He no longer had to hear about Max his exploits in the middle of the day that he was quite jealous of. He got to complain along with her about how boring the lab was well she talked about school and how annoying her teacher and the other students were.

 The best thing about his job by far though, was the money. Now he didn't end up spending any of it on himself. But he was able to afford his father's medical bills and to make sure that Susan didn't have to work anymore overtime. 

 He didn't think it was fair that she would be working to keep his father in a hospital bed that Billy put them in. That and the fact that he was able to pay for himself as it were. Susan still vehemently disagree that he should be doing it. But after he said that it was the only way to make him feel as if he what is contributing she relented. Sadly, he wasn’t able to get Susan to quit work all together but at least she worked reasonable hours. With both Susan and Billy at work, and Max in school they all were able to have dinner at the end of the day.

 It was late into the fall that he started to feel like his life was settling down. While he worked in the lab and didn't have any friends his age he at least felt that it was slightly normal the way that things were going. He was able to do the little experiments that they laid out for him and coast by.

 That all changed on a sleepy Sunday in November. 

 It was late, Susan had already gone to bed. Max had said that she wanted to watch a horror movie. Billy had agreed and told her that they would have to keep it quiet so that Susan wouldn't hear. It was a school night and also a work night for Billy. But Billy had a readily agreed at the idea of watching Halloween. He had bought it the week before and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to watch it. Their love of horror movies was one of the major tenants in their relationship.

 As they watched Michael Myers stalking his victim, Laurie they heard a knock at the door and both let out shouts. Max looked at Billy with a bit of fear in her eyes. Billy shrugged. 

 “Remember Max?” He said, tapping his head, “I got the super power we don't have to worry about any bad guys.”

 She nodded, he stood up and started to walk towards the front door. As he neared the door he heard a sound in the kitchen he turned quickly. He was startled by the sight of Susan, who is in her nightgown. Susan let out a screech and almost fell back Billy before grabbed onto her arms and held her in place. 

“Billy!” She shouted. “What the hell are you doing down here?”

Billy shrugged and blushed. Max came around the corner and Susan huffed at the sight of both of them. Another knock on the door seem to frighten them all again. And they turned back to the door. 

 Billy open the door and was met by the side of Dr. Owens. Owens, who was usually very well put together, seem to be in a hurry. He's usual suit was replaced by a sweater and jeans. His four head with perspiration dad and his eyes seemed a little bloodshot. 

 “Dr. Owens?” Billy asked. “Are you all right?”

 What Dr. Owens said next shocked all of them. 

“Billy, we have to go.  There's been an incident at the Hawkins Laboratory, and it looks like we're going to need you.” 


	5. Hawkins

Billy stared out the window of the nondescript government car. He was trying to tune out Dr. Owens annoying babbling.   
“-Honestly we never send assets into the field like this but this breach is one of the biggest risks to national security that I’ve ever heard of. If anyone found out what was happening at that lab. Christ, I’d heard Brenner was a psychopath but I thought he ran a tight ship.”  
He looked at Billy with wide eyes. He almost seemed out of breath. Billy shrugged. “I thought this was the whole deal doc, shit happens and they send me in. Ain’t that what all the training was for?”  
Owens seemed to find that amusing. He let out a little chuckle. “Billy you’ve only been training for a few months. Some assets are born into this. Don’t get cocky kid.”  
Billy didn’t say a word. The Doctor was right. He was a bit freaked. He had training sure. He was getting better with a pistol and his body was in shape. But he hadn’t really fought. This was the part of the job he hadn’t been looking forward to. The unknown. That was what scared him.   
Try car pulled up to a man with an assault rifle wearing cammo. He looked like a mean son of a bitch to Billy.   
Owens showed the man his ID and the guard said nothing. He simply stepped back. Owens sighed and continued onto a Tarmac were a sleek black plane was situated. Billy tried not to let his jaw drop. That was probably the coolest shit he had ever seen in his life. Owens pulled to a stop and looked at Billy with a sad smile.   
“End of the line for me I’m afraid.” He said simply. Billy frowned, “Wait, are you not coming?”  
“Sorry kid. I’m not an agent I’m a doctor. If I could I would.” Billy frown didn’t stop. He began to feel despair whirling around in his gut. No Max, no Susan and now Owens wasn’t coming. His whole stupid fucked up family seemed to drop out of nowhere. He gulped and tried to nod but he looked like an idiot who couldn’t control his movements. As he tried to to get out of the car Owens grabbed his arm. He looked at him with sad eyes.   
“Remember what you are Billy, whatever happens you are a good person.” Owens coughed awkwardly and let go of his arm. Billy quietly said goodbye to his mentor.   
A solider directed him to the stairs going up to the plane. He nodded but stayed silent. He walked up the stairs and into the plane. He ducked his head under the entrance and into a posh room. A older blond woman was seated in front of a table.   
Billy had never been on a plane but he’d seen them on tv. He knew that this one had probably been expensive.   
She looked up at him with a blank expression. She seemed to examine him for a moment. She quickly stood and extended her arm.   
“Connie Frazier. Agent in charge on this mission.” She stated. He floundered for a moment then took her hand.   
“Billy uhm, Hargrove. I’m not really sure what my title is.” He said. He tried to laugh. But it simply sounded like a tortured cough. She said nothing, continuing to gaze at him. Finally she spoke.   
“For the purposes of the mission you will be called Special Agent Hargrove. I will be leading. You will be following only mine and Doctor Brenner’s orders. Is that clear?”   
Billy was definitely off put by her demeanour. He tried not to stutter.   
“Y-yes ugh, who exactly is Doctor Brenner? And what is it that we need to investigate?”   
She didn’t seem to be upset by the question. Though Billy wasn’t sure how he would know as she seemed to have no emotions whatsoever. She then sat back down and motioned for him to join her. He sat at the table. And he felt the plane begin to move. She told him to put on his seatbelt and he did. He gritted his teeth and discovered that he didn’t enjoy the take off portion of flying.   
Once they were finally in the air and Billy felt slightly Norman again he felt the knot in his stomach dissolve. He looked up to see that Agent Frazier was spreading out pages in front of him.   
“We are headed to Hawkins Indiana, it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere but it has a government facility there. It is run by Doctor Martin Brenner. He has been one of the governments best mind when it comes to the unknown and unusual. His methods… are odd but that isn’t what we are there for.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment but continued.   
“Less than four hours ago there was a malfunction at the Lab. They had an asset similar to you. They were trying to make contact but something went wrong and it seems like the entire lab is down.”   
Billy nodded but didn’t know what to say. She looked thoughtful as she stared down at the photo of the Doctor.   
“All I know is that the last transmission said the asset escaped and we need to find it and contain anything else.”   
He tried to think of something smart to say but he just nodded dumbly. He looked down at the photos in front of him. The Doctor looked a lot like someone from a cheesy horror film.   
He looked at the picture of the so called asset.   
She was small. Tiny in fact. Her brown hair was short, not even an inch on her head. She couldn’t be older than Max and that made his stomach all fucked up again. The thought of this little girl being experimented on made him feel the anger he tried to keep bottled up.   
It’s a mission. He tried to calm himself down. Keep your ass in line Hargrove.   
He got up and went into the bathroom and willed his hands to stop shaking. They didn’t stop. His eyes began to tear up and he pushed down the fear inside him. His breaths become calm and he felt himself slip into that in-between.   
He reached out and saw Connie Frazier, her mind was different than many others. More rigid, and dark. He didn’t dare to connect with it as he had with Owens. He also saw that pilots mind. He brought himself back and felt a calm spread to his mind.   
The power always seemed to do that. It brought him to a place of peace.   
He stood back up and went out to his seat.   
Connie didn’t look up. She had another file in her hand and didn’t seem to want to talk any further. He sat down and yawn a bit. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off.

  
\-------------

He was jolted awake by the planes dissent. He quickly strapped on his seatbelt again and tried to relax.   
Connie didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him.   
His ears popped and he swore. Connie chuckled at his discomfort.   
“Kid you’ll soon be a pro at this if you do well on this job. This is the kind of thing that makes your career.”   
He nodded quickly. He didn’t really think he had much of a career. He sometimes felt like a glorified lab rat. He jolted in his seat when the plane touched the ground. He finally found his nerve and stood up.   
Connie had already gotten to the exit. He walked quickly and walked behind her down to the ground. The airstrip was different than the one in California, it was empty. No planes or people in sight. Other than one black town car. A man in a suit stood waiting.   
He said nothing but opened the door. He sat down beside Connie and the car began to move.   
“When we get there we might see shit that makes you uncomfortable. Keep a clear head and don’t do anything stupid.” She sighed, Some of it will probably scare you but it’s not your problem.”  
He nodded and looked out the window. The thick lush forest gradually thinned and they began to see smaller homes. The houses weren’t very upscale so Billy assumed that they were in Hawkins version of the bad neighbourhood. Of course back home this was nothing to Billy. More trees met them and Finally they found themselves pulling up to a large complex.   
The gates were raised and they pulled into a large parking lot. They got out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the main building. Before they were even half way there a small delegation opened the front doors. They were led by a tall thinned white haired man.   
Billy recognized him to be Doctor Brenner.   
He looked even stranger in person. He was incredibly thin and his eyes gave away no emotion in away similar to Agent Connie Frazier. The thing that made Billy almost shiver was that he seemed to be staring into Billy’s soul.   
Connie met him first. She shook his hand and her face quirked into an almost smile. But she gave nothing away.   
“Dr. Brenner.”   
He looked at her with familiarity.   
“Agent Frazier. It’s good to see you, I requested you specifically. I know how good you are at getting rid of little problems.”  
At that Connie laughed or as close as she got to it.   
“And this is Special Agent Hargrove. I’m sure that you’ve read the reports Owens has been sending out about him.”   
Brenner turned towards him with interest. He extended his hand to Billy. Billy shook it.   
“Yes we have all been quite interested in young Billy’s progress. And I am quite please that I have the opportunity to work with him. He will be instrumental in apprehending our lost asset.”  
He stared at Billy for only a second more before turning on his heels and calling for them to follow.   
They entered to find people walking in all directions. He heard the phones ringing from behind the reception desks. And he tried not to get distracted. All of the people walking seemed to make a path for Brenner. Several armed guards began to tail them.   
“The breach occurred when we were in the middle of an experiment. The assent was trying to project herself as far as she could. She made contact with something… different when she tried.”  
They walked through double doors and into a white hallway. Two men awaited them with racks of protective suits. Billy was reminded of them from tv shows with radioactivity. He was given a suit and he pulled it over and was zipped up by one of the men. They have him a gun and a flash light. Once they were all suited up they walked through another set of doors.   
The team of led by Dr. Brenner, in protective suits, armed with guns and flashlights, enter an elevator, where they drop down. The floors still ding like a regular elevator but the further down they go the more Billy’s heart sinks. He felt something was wrong with this place. Usually when he felt someone’s conscious it was like a single entity. This was so different. It was like it surrounded him. And it was so much different than any humans he’d ever seen.   
The doors opened and he realized that they must have been deep underground. The first thing he saw was strange plant like growth all over the walls. The lights were flickering and Billy almost vomited.   
“Are you alright Agent?” Connie asked. Her voice didn’t seem to hold much concern. He nodded but held on to the wall.   
“It’s- it seems like it’s alive.” He gasped. The entity was so different than whatever he had seen before. Humans and animals were so much different than this. This seemed, almost hungry.   
They walked further into the hallway and approached a crack in the wall. Billy knew immediately that this was the breach. He could feel it in his soul.   
“This is where it came from.” Billy stated. Brenner nodded. “Very good Agent. This is were the breach occurred.”  
“And the girl?” Connie asked. Brenner looked at her, “She couldn’t have gotten far. And Agent Hargrove will be able to shut her down the second we find her. Isn’t that right?”

Billy nodded, “Don’t worry I’ll take her down.”

 


End file.
